"O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count myself
a king of infinite space,
were it not that I have bad dreams."
- Hamlet
Act II scene ii

12 May 2006

Verification

Perhaps you thought that, when registering blog comments, the Word Verification codes were simply jumbled letters produced randomly by some distant computer server. That is not the case. Each Word Verification code is actually a real word from the small Balkan state of Verifica. This is a tiny country of some sixty thousand souls - often omitted from maps. It borders Albania and Serbia-Montenegro and it is the only area of the planet where the ancient Verification language is spoken.

Until blogging came along, the Verificans eked out their peasant lives rearing goats and weaving reed baskets. Verifica’s previous claim to fame was that it was Europe’s number one producer of Balkan parsnips - they were even exported to the USA. Nowadays most Verificans are employed in producing Word Verification codes – not just for Blogger but for online banking and a range of other internet services. Foreign money has poured into the country and the standard of living in Verifica has shot up with most peasants now owning SUVs and pop up toasters.

Hzzeorg Xxrijkm

The greatest poet in the Verification language is also its prime minister Hzzeorg Xxrijkm. Here in this extract from the seven hundred and fifty line epic poem“Verifica, Verifica!”he captures the true spirit of his nation:-

SUVs and pop up toasters? It's about time North Yorkshire got into the word verication business if it brings that kind of standard of living. Actually there is a verifican community here in Richmond that has kept it's language and traditions and refuses in fact to speak engish at all or integrate into the community in any way. Fortunatly they all found employment with the district council

What's with this puss and sack thing? I like to find the puss when I'm in the sack!And Mrs Friday Web - tell Big A that I was full of shit but I just visited the rest room and have expelled the aforementioned and aromatic waste product.

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.